129th session of IOC opens in Rio

Rio de Janeiro: The 129th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) opened in the Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro on Monday where the Games will be held from August 5.

IOC is likely to make a decision at the session on including new disciplines in the program of 2020 Olympic Games, and will also elect new members of the executive board, reports Tass.

The world body may decide to include five new disciplines into the program of 2020 Games that will be held in Tokyo, Japan. These include karate, rock climbing, skateboarding, surfing and baseball/softball. Eighteen sets of medals will be up for grabs, and around 500 sportspeople will fight for them.

The IOC members will also hear reports of representatives of organising committees of cities that applied to host the 2024 Olympic Games. The winner will be named at the 130th IOC session in Peru’s capital Lima next year. Among contenders are Rome in Italy, France’s Paris, Budapest in Hungary and America’s New York.

The 129th session was preceded by a meeting of IOC’s executive board that approved candidacies of eight new members.

The executive board will be expanded by eight members in the framework of the program of developing the Olympic movement Agenda-2020.

Among new members are four women and four men that represent not only sports, but also culture, medicine, sociology, business, law and management.

The IOC session will be held in Rio de Janeiro on August 1-4. New members will be elected during the upcoming Olympic Games.

Among candidates is Russia’s two-times pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva but she needs to be present at the voting procedure in Rio de Janeiro. Since she was not allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics, Isinbayeva has not yet decided on whether she will go to Brazil.